This page contains affiliate links. This means I receive a small commission for purchases made through these links, at no added cost to you.
Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller, Jeanine Cummins novel American Dirt is equally as heart-breaking as it is full of hope.
It has been an incredibly long time since I powered through a book as quickly as I did with American Dirt. And it left me somewhat speechless for a good while after I put it down.
Stephen King describes it as “a perfect balancing act with terror on one side and love on the other… it’s marvellous” and honestly, that sums up exactly how I feel about it too.
American Dirt: Plot Synopsis
Yesterday, Lydia had a bookshop.
Yesterday, Lydia was married to a journalist.
Yesterday, she was with everyone she loved most in the world.
Today, her eight-year-old son Luca is all she has left.
For him, she will carry a machete strapped to her leg.
For him, she will leap onto the roof of a high speed train.
For him, she will find the strength to keep running.
“There’s a blessing in the moments after terror and before confirmation.”
The novel starts with a murder at a family party. Lydia and her eight-year-old son escape and American Dirt follows their heart stopping journey afterwards.
It’s a book that I will never forget. Beautifully written, amazingly well researched and so timely, it’s by no means an easy read but it has opened my eyes to the struggles that many people are facing across the world as they flee their homes in hope of a safer life. It’s a powerful story and it offers an insight into a life that many of us are privileged enough to never have to face.
American Dirt opened my mind and touched my heart in a way that few books ever have. It is one of the few books that I really have nothing negative to say about it and if I could give it six stars, I would.
